peters



(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

J. ROBB. I

i SHOH.

No. 391,485. Patented Oct. 23, 1888.

INVENTOR.

Ummah TATES mrena* Qwin&

JAMES ROBB, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO WALDO M. CLAFLIN, OF SAME PLACE.

SPECIPIC'ATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 3913185, dated October 23, 1888.

Application filed January 26, 1888. Serial No. %1,976. (Ne model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, JAMES ROBB, a citizen of the United States, residing in the city and county of Philadelphia, and State of Penusylvania, have invented a certain new and useful Improvementin Lacing-Shoes; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same.

This inveution, although more particularly designed for use in track and field athleti es generally, is also specially applieable as a gout shoe, and may be used with advantage as an ordinary walking-shoe, my chief object being to devise and construct a shoe which, while it admits of the upper being easily adjusted along and firmly laced over the foot, also when unlaced has its whole interior readily accessible, so that the shoe does not have to be drawn over the foot, and can, when removed, be readily cleaned, dried, and repaired.

The several parts of my invention co operate to enable the foot, after being placed in correct position upon the shoe, to be sccurely and completely enveloped by the upper without those fulnesses, wrinkles, and puckers which frequently arise in the ordinary shoe as at present made, and they also tend to avoid the twisting and disloeation of the upper from the sole, incident to the wear of the ordinary styles of lacingshoes.

The ordinary lacingshoe consists, first, of a sole 5 second, of a uon-adjustable vam p, cov ering the fore part of the foot, and into which the foot must be pushed, and, third, of quarters joined to the vamp and adapted to be laced over the instep.

My invention consists in substitnting for the ordinary vamp an independent toe piece joined only to the sole, and in extending the quarters beyond the ball of the foot as lateral flaps independent of the toe piece and not united to it, except that both toe-piece and quarters are united to the sole. These quarters or lateral fiaps are secured to the sole by their lower edges only, and are thus free standing. They eXtend beyond the rear edge of the toe-piece and are adapted to overlap and be firmly laced over this rear edge and over a fleXible tongue, to which the toe-piece may be joined.

These quarters may be made of the two ends of a single piece of leather, or of two pieces of leather united at the heci. They may be united to the sole by any of the ordinary methods.

A further improvement consists in forming said toe cap either integral with a tongue, also adapted to underlie and be overlapped by my said adjustable flap-like quarters, or else in sewing or otherwise uniting a suitable tongue to either the free standing rear edge of said toe-cap or to one of said free fiap-like quarters, substantially as tongues are frequently united to ordinary uppers.

By the old method where a vamp was em ployed and quarters of the ordinary (short) length were adapted to be folded over and be laeed down on them the practice has been to secnrely unite the forward edges of said quarters by rivets, sewing, 8:0., to said Vamp, or combined toe and vamp. This union being 7o above the line of junction between the upper and the sole, it has been heretofore impossible to adjust the fore part of the shoe snoothly to the foot, or to entirely open and unfold the upper from off the toe and forward portion of the foot. I am also aware that lacingshoes have been made both for athletic purposes and gouty feet without either toe-piece or Vampthat is to say, practically of an upper split or divided down its front from top to or Very near to the toe, and the adjoining edges thereof adjustably united by laces; but the combinatiou of the independent transverse terminal toe-cap and the lateral adj ustable free standing quarter-fiaps united only by their lower edges to the sole, being of the essence of my present invention, distinguishes it from the elasses of shocs to which I refer.

Reference now being had to the aceompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, in which similar letters of reference represent eorrespouding parts in all the figures, they will be found to illustrate my present invention-to wit: 4

Figure l shows it in a perspective as applied 5 to a practicall y heelless athletic shoe equipped with the ordinary triple flanged toe-calks or spike used by base-ball players. In this view a portion of one of the shoe-quarters is represented as broken away, so as to display the :oo

modification thereof which has a toe-cap and tongue formed integral with each other. The quarters are shown with raised flaps and the tongue laid back ready for lacing, certain broken lines indicating the position assumed by quarter when laced. Others show the preferred structural detail. Figs. 2 and 3 constitute pattern outlines for my improved upper. In other words, they are respectively plan Views of the toe-cap and eitherof the quarterpieces as they appear when developed upon a plane surface. Figs. 4 and 5 are perspective views of my shoe open and laced, respectively.

In general in the figures, AA' represent two substantially similar quarters, forning, as shown in Fig. l, the sides and back of the shoe, the latter part preferably re-enforced with a counter, as indicated by B, said quarters in Fig. 1 being provided with rows of lace-eyelets a a, &c., approxinately paralleling what I have above referred to as their adjoining edges, while in Fig. 3 lace-hooks a', 850., are given as a modification, for while the means enployed for engaging said edges with the lacings is practically of little moment, still I do prefer to employ in shoes to be used for athletic pursuits metallic eyelets.

G represents the toe-cap; c, its line of union with the sole S; D, the prolongation of the central portion of the toe-cap s free standing edge forming the tongue, which,being of thin flexible material in all cases, and preferably of leather, is readily placed in any position relative to the otherpartsandspeciallyadaptedtoliesmoothly over thejoints and instep. This tongue may be of any convenient width, although for most cases I consider its best width to be at least one-third the measure across the toes; but should said tongue be formed of a separate piece it can be sewed or otherwise secured to the cap O along the dotted line connecting c' and 0 in Fig. 2; or upon the inner side of either of the quarters, as along the line 0 of Fig. 3 by the side c In Fig. l, s represents the insole and welt of a shoe; X X X, the base-ball players' ordinary calks; a? line of union between quarters and sole, also indicated in Fig. 3. The amount of overlap between the quarters and toecap must be dependent upon the use which the shoe is calculated to subserve; but in order to eXolude dust it should in all cases be appreciably, as indicated by dot-and-dash line C C of Fig. 2,along which the butt-ends A A of the quarters A A', respectively, lace into' position on the foot.

The tripartite spike X is shown in Fig. 1 for the purpose .of suggesting the kind of wrench and strains for which my invention is, among other things, intended to meet and resist; but in order to preclude the idea that spiked soles or heelless soles are necessary features of my invention,I have 'also indicated in dotted lines at H in Fig. 1 a heel, which, like the spikes, rubber soles for tennis, or any other of the ordinary adjuncts of lacing-shoes, may be used in connection with my present improved Construction.

The upper,too, need not of necessity extend to the ankle, for the quarters, being modified in cut. are eqnally as applicable for low shoes as high; but,

Having now fully described and illustrated my invention, what I desire to claim and secure by Letters Patent is 1. ln an adjustable lacing-shoe, the combination of adjustable quarters or fiaps provided with lace-hooks united in any ordinary way into a continuous piece for passing round the back of the shoe, said quarters thence eX- tending forward beyond the ball of the foot, but terminating short of the toe, with their lower edges secured to the sole, said sole, and a toe-cap,0, constructed free of said quarters, with its rear part eXtending intoacontinuous tongue, D, adapted to be overlapped by said quarters when laced, substantially as and for the purposes hereinbefore described.

2. A lacing-shoe consisting, substantially as set forth,of the following combination,to wit: free flap-like quarters A A, wholly disunited from the toe-cap and provided with lace-hooks, a tongue, D, adapted to underlie and be over lapped by the laced parts, an independent toecap, C, adapted to be overlappcd on its rear part by said quarters when laced, and a sole, S, the whole united together to form an adjustable folding shoe, substantially as and for the purposes hereinbefore described.

3. In the herein-described shoe, the toepiece C and tongue D, formed integral, substantially as and for the purposes hereinbefore described.

JAMES ROBB.

witnesses:

H. W. HARE PowEL, J OSHUA MATLAOK, Jr. 

